Report

Last game of the season and a relaxed feel to a game at the lovely BA Concorde Club between bottom of the table British Airways Reserves and ourselves, with nothing really to left to play for. Despite BA being bottom of the table and having (technically... they beat One Wish before they folded) not won a game all season they were not to be taken light heartedly as their draws against 2nd and 3rd place Islington and Tooting proved they werent going to just roll over and hand us the 3 points. They had managed to get together 14 players together and according to their coach they had 2 first team players in the squad.

We started the game with the tried and trusted 3-5-2 formation with:
GK - Romana Hinchelwood
DEF - Siobhan Quinn, Stephanie Moniz, Katherine Espinal
MID - Neekha Gibbs, Daisy Taylor, Megan Brown, Georgia King-Vallely, Gemma Mark
FWD - Jade Evans, Jade Scutt

We started the game 30 mins late due to the ref turning up late, and we struggled to keep the ball on the deck, seemingly dragged down to playing at the same level as BA instead of playing our own free-flowing passing game, however 5 mins into the game and some good play down the right brought Daisy into space in BA-s box and she finished neatl past the BA keeper. Colfes started to play a bit better, with Megan and Georgia working hard to break up BA-s play and release the ball out wide to Neekha and Gemma, with our wingers working chances for themselves and our strikers the score still somehow remained 1-0. We had a large succession of corners with nothing coming from them until Daisy rose above her marker to header onto the crossbar, unfortunately nobody was there for the rebound and BA were able to clear.

Another nice bit of play in the midfield saw Daisy again break through the middle and blast the ball first time into the far corner from just insde the area giving us a comfortable 2-0 lead, the third followed shortly after a mistake from the BA keeper who miskicked the ball straight to Neekha who got the ball under control on the 2nd attempt, rushed passed the left back before firing the ball over the keeper and into the far left corner, a lovely strike and a 3 goal lead. We were pretty much camped in the BA half for most of the first half with the defence rarely troubled Shiv-s, Steph and Katie clearing up anything that got through our midfield with Romana largely a spectator. Just befor the halftime whistle i was certain we should have had a penalty when Jade Scutt was bundled over by the big centre back, the ref who looked to put the whistle to his mouth but waved play on when their were no claims from the Colfeian players. Shortly after he blew for half time with Colfes 3-0 up, the sun shining and colfes playing some decent football... but for some reason the team with the most smiles were BA.

On with the 2nd half with Megan going in goal to give Romana a run out field slotting into her usual position with Shivs pushing up into Midfield, we kept the same tempo to the game looking to add more goals to our seasons tally and now with Romana-s long throws giving us another dimension and causing problems for BA-s defence we were able to keep them pinned back into their own half for most of the second half with a few counter attacks threatening us but casually and effectively stopped by Steph on many occasions. A lovely through ball from Neekha set Daisy off again and she left the keeper no chance with another lovely finish and completed her hat-trick 4-0 Colfes. BA who were threatening with their counter attacks as we had more and more players staying forward, managed to make one count as they caught us out with 5 players against 3 playing in the spare player who crossed the ball for their striker to prod the ball through Megans hands 4-1. Colfes kept their heads p however and continued to push forward looking for more goals with Jade E breaking through the middle and shooting agonisingly wide of the post, the resulting goal kick fell to Georgia who brought the ball down well and lofted a perfectly measured left footed ball over the BA defence leaving Daisy clean through on goal, rounding the keeper before sticking her 4th of the game into the back of the net 5-1. Colfes playing with a lot of confidence were now looking to take on players and get the passes going, one such move down the right saw Romana cheekily nutmeg 1 BA player (Did she mean it?) before beating another before laying the ball off to Neekha who breezed past her marker to cross the ball to Jade E who chested the ball into the path of Daisy to finish off a lovely move and to give us a 6-1 lead. With the game drawing to a close and the 3 points all but secure Romana pushed up front with Jade S dropping into midfield and Shivs filling in at right back. A surging run from Steph from way back in our own half caused a few problems and forced yet another corner which Neekz sent over which only needed a touch from someone as none of the BA players wanted to put their heads on it, it unfortunately skimmed off Romana-s head and off for a goal kick. A burst down the left from Gemma saw her cut in and curl the ball straight across the keeper and into the far corner a splendid finish giving us a 7-1 lead with about 5 minutes left. Just before the end of the game a breakaway move from BA caught us out as their left winger ran from inside her own half to latch onto a long ball just outside the 18 yard box, she rounded the unrushing Megan before slotting into the net to give us a final score of 7-2.

A great first season for Old Colfeians Ladies side which was very up and down as our results show we finished in 4th place overall Playing 14 Winning 7 Drawing 0 Losing 7 Scoring 47 Conceding 52.

Player of the match- Daisy Taylor
Daisy finished her season as she started it with another 5 goal haul finishing the season with 15 and Old Colfeians top scorer. It wasnt just the goals today, it was her all round play she was always in space to receive the ball and brought the wingers into play a lot with her flicks and touches.